Series and More The 10 jewels that the Sundance Film Festival has left us in 2022

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The Sundance Festival announced in the early hours of Saturday the great winners of the second edition of the contest that was held consecutively online due to the pandemic. The films have prevailed over the setbacks of the Omicron variant and for ten days the mountains of Utah have once again been the world capital of independent cinema. Documentaries, fiction, American cinema, international films... Sundance has once again demonstrated its ability to tell stories of all genres and for all types of audiences. These are 10 of the titles that have been presented this year at the festival and that we will continue to talk about throughout 2022.

'Cha Cha Real Smooth'

Apple TV + will pay 15 million dollars to premiere 'Cha Cha Real Smooth', the confirmation of Cooper Raiff.

The consecration of Raiff Cooper has been the most commented film of the festival, causing a war between distributors and platforms that Apple TV + won in exchange for 15 million dollars. The director of Shithouse continues to explore uncertainty in his twenties with a romantic comedy between two soulmates, a 22-year-old boy who just moved back in with his parents after finishing college, and a mother of a 13-year-old autistic girl. . The director and actor revisits common places with an overwhelming sense of humor, intimacy and empathy that explain how he has become one of the great promises of indie cinema in the United States at only 24 years old and with two films in his career. Cha Cha Real Smooth is also a new goal for Dakota Johnson, an actress who continues to amaze with her potential as an actress thanks to her role as a woman afraid of being abandoned.

'After-Yang'

Colin Farrell in 'After Yang', the consecration of Kogonada.

Before surprising with his delicate directorial debut (Columbus, a melancholy proposal that moves in an exemplary way between the formal and the emotional), Kogonada had already made a name for himself among lovers of cinema and television for his video essays on the form, structure and content of audiovisual works. After Yang is the confirmation of all that potential thanks to the story of a father who tries to save Yang's life by all possible means, a half-assistant and half-babysitter robot who they consider another member of their family and who was key to the adaptation in the family of his adopted daughter. The film is a melancholic look at life that talks about the search for identity in the most unexpected places. Kogonada's jewel transcends the topics of stories about robots and their relationship with humans, forming an extraordinary diptych with Steven Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence.

'Good luck to you, Leo Grande'

Emma Thompson in 'Good luck to you, Leo Grande'.

Over the next few months we will get tired of hearing how brave Emma Thompson is for agreeing to star in one of the most beautiful and powerful nudes in living memory. Good luck to you, Leo Grande is much more than that. Director Sophie Hyde and screenwriter Kathy Brand use the encounters between a retired and widowed woman who has never had an orgasm and a young sex worker to discuss the importance of sex positivity, the role of prostitution in society (a topic which will be controversial at its premiere) and the journey to self-discovery before it's too late. The dialogue is electric, the use of nudity is clever, and its two leads are sensational. Nancy Strokes is perhaps the best performance in Emma Thompson's career, but the unknown and overwhelming Daryl McCormack puts up with her at all times.

'little pig'

'Cerdita', the Spanish representation at Sundance.

@DarkMatter89 At the rate the gov is moving we're in this "please stay home unless you have work" limbo until golde… https://t.co/dBR2xtVr3n

— SNCR_pengu Sat Apr 04 14:47:10 +0000 2020

Carlota Pereda has won over international critics with a shocking debut with which she exploits the full potential of her Goya-winning short film. Pig is a gritty approach to bullying and the impact on those who suffer from it from a terrifying, violent and gritty perspective that has already been compared to slasher classics like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The physicality of the staging, the wild interpretation of the wolf and the little red riding hood in this story, and the use of costumbrista comedy confirm Pereda as a talent to watch who is not afraid to go off the beaten track for so many debut directors. Little Pig is, in short, the kind of radical cinema, unprejudiced and without fear of playing within the limits that we often ask of our films.

'Living room'

Bill Nighty in 'Living'.

South African Oliver Hermanus (Moffie) was unshaken by the challenge of making his own version of Live, Akira Kurosawa's unforgettable classic. The infallible Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day) is in charge of adapting to 1950s London the story of a man who is unaware of the emptiness of his existence until one day he is diagnosed with incurable cancer. Bill Nighy (the unforgettable rocker from Love Actually) shows the most delicate side of him in a moving and evocative reflection on identity and the twists and turns of life. The delicate interpretation of Nighy, the most acclaimed of his entire career, the audacious adaptation of the story to the existential doubts of the United Kingdom after the Second World War and the careful staging of Hermanus are some of the virtues of a period drama which has already been bought by Sony Pictures Classics in hopes of promoting it ahead of the 2023 Oscars.

'emergency'

The thriller denounces 'Emergency'.

Carey Williams is the author of the most inspired of all the proposals influenced by the Black Lives Matter movement seen at Sundance. Emergency centers on the adventures of three college friends - two black and one Latino - who find a drunk white girl they don't know in her apartment. Their fear of a disproportionate reaction from the police launches them into the most dangerous night of their lives. Behind a film that constantly jumps genres (action, youth comedy, thriller, social criticism) there is an original exploration of the crisis of a country and a community. Williams needs to finish off a more than interesting proposal to a recurring theme in recent American cinema. Not all the characters are as well written as the two protagonists and Williams jumps into the pool in the epilogue with an open judgment on certain attitudes of the white population towards their racial prejudices. It is a provocative idea that, however, lands halfway. It's a black and white conclusion to a gray story.

'We need to talk about Cosby'

Showtime's documentary series about comedian Bill Cosby has become one of the great sensations of the last Sundance Festival.

Through its four hours of duration, the series We need to talk about Cosby proposes a risky but fascinating approach to the figure of Bill Cosby. To really understand the impact of the more than 60 allegations of sexual abuse against the legendary comedian, W. Kamau Bell reconstructs why the protagonist of The Bill Cosby Hour is so important to the African-American community. The Showtime production does not forget his victims or the disturbing clues left by the actor and comedian throughout his 50-year career. The director of the documentary, another comedian who came to be considered "a son of Cosby" becomes integrated into the story itself: we listen to his reflections, the interviewees question him directly and in the last minutes of the series we even get to see how he finds out live that Cosby has just been released.

'Fire of love'

'Fire of love', one of the documentaries of the year.

"Curiosity was greater than fear," explains one of the protagonists of Fire of Love in one of the most exciting moments of a documentary that has been acquired, of course, by National Geographic. Katia and Maurice Krafft were a charismatic couple of volcanologists (their media appearances and domestic images help us to know them) who shared an intense love for two things in their lives: their relationship and volcanoes. Until his death in one of his many adventures, the Kraffts spent twenty years devoted to their great passion, knowing that they were risking their lives in each of their approaches to a natural phenomenon as beautiful as it was potentially lethal. Miranda July's voiceover and the extraordinary use of archive images give rise to a captivating work and not as sad as it might seem at first glance: Katia and Maurice lost their lives doing what they loved most. His legacy will live on forever thanks to Sara Dosa's wonderful documentary.

'Lucy and Desi'

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

Amy Poehler returns to the director's chair to review the career and legacy of one of the first women to succeed in the world of an industry as macho as Hollywood and comedy. The lovely Lucy and Desi is a complementary vision to Being the Ricardos, the film about the most difficult week for the personal and professional marriage formed by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The Amazon Prime Video documentary goes beyond Aaron Sorkin's inevitably reductionist proposal to create an exciting and dynamic portrait of the path to success of the creators of the historic I love you, Lucy and the real reasons for their personal separation. Lucy and Desi also looks at the couple's later years, when they both cemented their legendary status with different accomplishments. A must have for any TV lover.

'You Won't Be Alone'

Noomi Rapace appears in 'You Won't Be Alone'.

Within the section dedicated to international cinema, Sundance has reserved a surprise with the Australian film You Won't Be Alone. Set in an isolated mountain village in 19th-century Macedonia, the film follows a young woman who is kidnapped and later transformed into a witch by an ancient spirit. Despite its obvious echoes of Terence Malick's cinema (with its captivating images, its metaphors and that voiceover halfway between the burdensome and the poetic), Goran Stolevski surprises with a violent, erotic and demanding vision of the search for identity through the perspective of an extraordinary creature who just wants to integrate into a hostile and ruthless world. It would not be surprising if You Won't Be Alone, an impressive cover letter for its director, became one of the most sought-after fantastic films at genre festivals around the world in 2022. Sitges, your turn.

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